NeoConstellation: New Beginnings
Episode Three: Escape, Confusion, and More Confusion


	Once there was peace in the world. Now, there isn't. 




	Leo looked around the rest of the room. Everyone else was 
seemingly asleep. 
	_Nothing like a dognap._
	Cassiopeia glared at him. 
	_She's not asleep. _
	Then he remembered (as much as Leo could really remember)
 Cassiopeia's earlier orders:	"LEO! Get me out of here!"
	Draco did more reprimanding of Pegasus then actually 
guardianing. Hercules was the only one who could properly question 
Gemini's authority, Scorpio... who knows what went on in the crazy 
tabby's head? Shelby.... Well, Shelby was special. Shelby was above 
them... Shelby could suitably blow up half the universe if he wanted 
to. But Leo... he didn't question what Cassiopeia told him. 
	Cassiopeia raised her eyebrows when he started tugging at the 
rope, but she didn't object. As soon a he finished freeing her, she
 reached down and scratched him behind the ears. 
	_That was worth it._
	"Leo..." Cassiopeia said, watching Gemini carefully to see if
 he was awake or not. 
	Leo cocked his head to the side and made a doggy-whine noise. 
"What?"
	"...make sure none of them wake up until morning.
	She got up quietly and headed toward the door. It didn't look
 sturdy enough to hold the door shut in the first place. Digging a 
hairpin out of her pocket (yes, the sailor suits have pockets... 
somewhere, I'm sure, they have to have pockets) she dropped it into 
the lock and shot the circuit. 
	_Electric locks... smart._
	She slipped out the door.

	
	Pegasus401TK: everything ok over there?
	Starz45: yeah. I'm still a little shaken up but everything's 
fine...
	Pegasus401TK: and you understand not to call me you-know-what 
in front of the 	entire world? 	
	Starz45: yeah. I'll call you if... wait you're using the phone 
line.
	Pegasus401TK: that's okay I have two lines.	
	Starz45: I thought you were an orphan how do you get all the
 rent paid?
	Pegasus401TK: I bought the apartment awhile ago. Well, 
actually...
	Starz401: someone else bought it.
	Pegasus401TK: yeah. And I had a couple of none too happy 
roommates.



	Cassiopeia stuck her head around the corner. No one was coming. 
	_These people have no idea what the word 'secure' means,
 do they? _
	She waltzed down the hall and opened the exit door. 
	_Apparently not... what the!?_
	Ahead of her was a scene that could only be described as 
nuts-artist-with-too-many-colors-meets-blank-huge-canvas. Long grass 
rolled across a never-ending hill, while the blackest night sky that 
could ever be seen shone above. Tiny pinpricks of pure white light 
streamed down from the stars. 
	_You know, if all they wanted to do was make Earth like this, 
I'd let them. But destroy Earth to replace it with this and have the 
heavens ruled by the 'princess'- I bet she isn't a princess anyway- uh,
 no. Well, maybe if it got Pegasus out of the way and if they kept Alex
 Trebeck and a few morons. 
	Hell-oooo. We are here to get back our creditability, not 
lose the not-too-firm grip we have on it now._ One part of her prodded,
 and she nodded to herself.
	_Let's go. For the future of all that's Jeopardy hangs in the
 balance. _
	

	
	Starz45: so what do I do now?
	Pegasus401TK: wait. Either wait or...

	Something struck Tori. As far as she knew, almost every true
 princess of something in the universe had been a sailor senshi at one
 time or another. 

	Starz45: or what?
	Pegasus401TK: ...do you have a cat?
	Starz45: no.
	Pegasus401TK: any pets?
	Starz45: no.
	Pegasus401TK: any stray animals been hanging around lately?
	Starz45: come to think of it yeah.
	Pegasus401TK: what kind of... animal? Any marks on it?
	Starz45: Yeah. It's got kind of... like this white stripe
 starting on it's forehead,but at the start it has kind of four marks 
in an 'x'... the start looks kind of like a star, and the stripe goes
 all the way down to it's tail. It's really cute.
Pegasus401TK: Lola, I think you need to come over here now and stay 
for a while. Tell your mother that you'll be studying for a huge test 
overnight at my apartment. Okay?
	Starz45: okay c you in 5 I guess



	One violet eye opened. Then the other eye opened. 
	Gemini suppressed a yawn and sat up. 
	_Cassiopeia's gone already? I thought that the rope would at
 least hold for today._
	He leaned over and shook Shelby awake.
	"Dude, stop it. Go to sleep like the rest of the sane mortals." Shelby said, and turned so that he was facing away from Gemini. "You know, if you have to be in this situation, go to sleep. Best advice I can give you."
	Gemini rolled his eyes. "Right. Of course. Cassiopeia's gone.
 Find her."
	Shelby snorted. "She's outside, approximately 500 feet from
 the complex in a neo-energy field, and she's moving out and we're 
not going catch her because I'm tired."
	"Neo-energy?" Gemini asked. 
	"Type of stuff that gets nasty when you poke it. Except 
that some of it likes to be poked. You can't tell by looking at it. 
I hate dealing with that stuff. Want a free sample of how it reacts?
 Keep me awake for another two seconds." And with that he went back
 to sleep.
	Gemini sighed and pushed himself up from the floor. "Be that
 way." He snorted.



	Lola came over in her pajamas a few minutes later. Tori opened 
the door, shoved her inside, and then did a quick examination of the 
area surrounding the apartment. No sign of a cat. 
	Collapsing onto the couch, Lola examined the apartment. For 
the most part, it appeared to be nothing but houseplants. Houseplants
 surrounded pretty much everything from the ceiling to the floor. "Do
 you like plants or are they just decorative?" She asked.
	"Just deco. Want something to eat?" Tori said, holding up a
 bag of pretzels. 
	"Sure." Answered Lola, and began taking the lens cap off her
 camera. Holding it to eye level, she began snapping pictures of the 
plants. 
	Taking a pretzel, she put the camera down and turned to Tori.
 "Could I know something?" 
	"What?" Tori shrugged. 	
	"Why the disguise?"
	"Oh." She looked down at the ground. "Well, normally I am 
Sailor Pegasus all the time, up there. But... I'm on vacation... 
it was meant to be for a long time, until I could figure out who I
 really am."
	"And who are you?"
	"I'm still... not quite sure. I mean, I know I'm Sailor 
Pegasus, I know all-too-freaking-well I'm Princess Pegasi, but 
at the same time I'm me, I'm someone who isn't Sailor Pegasus 
and someone who isn't a princess at all. You know?"
	"I'm just going to call you a nutcase and be silent."


	Shelby frowned, not really asleep. Gemini was going anyway, 
wasn't he? The moron was going to go and risk his brainless life for
 a stupid reason. Still... he pushed himself up and went to the door. 
Gemini wasn't in the hallway... he was past that.
	_I *cannot* believe I'm doing this._
	Running down to the hall to catch up, he continued berating 
himself. 
	_ You know, there are other things to do.
	Yes, but are they this stupid? No._
	Gemini was standing with his back to Shelby at the exit door,
 which had 'exit' written in six-inch-high glowing letters to let you
 know it was an exit door. Even though he couldn't see Gemini's face, 
he knew it was the classic 'that's interesting' look that was on it, 
and he took the time to push Gemini out of the way to take a look.
	"What do you think you're doing?"
	"Keeping you out of trouble." Shelby grumbled, sticking his 
head around the corner of the door. "Wow. This took a lot of poking."
	Gemini sighed. "What is poking, anyway?"
	 Shelby turned and looked at him. "It's just... poking
 it around and moving it until it's like you need it."
	Gemini looked like he was just short of slapping Shelby...
 or maybe slapping himself, but in any case he just shook his head 
and looked back out across the landscape.
	"And they wonder why I hate you."
	"Look, I'm just going to make sure that you don't kill
 yourself. Okay? I know someone who'd be kind of upset if I let 
you do that."
	

	"So what's with the talking cats anyway?"
	"Talking cats. It's almost like a trademark of senshihood. 
You get enough sailor soldiers in one place and pretty soon there's 
gonna be a talking cat with some weirded out mark on it's head, or
 maybe a talking dog or bird or even a goat. Wait, no- the goat's a
 sailor soldier. Sorry." Tori said.
	"Goat?" Asked Lola.
	"Sailor Aries, also known as Joan. She's the Zodiac
 Constellation Soldier of the Goat. Or is Aries something else? 
I don't know, I just do flying horses."
	"You're strange."
	"Not really."
	"So, do you have a family or not? I'm still confused."
	"Yes and no. It depends on which life I'm currently living.
 As Sailor Pegasus, yes, I do, as Tori Krufenheiger, no, I couldn't
 be bothered."
	"Don't you ever get lonely?"
	"No, not normally, because I normally have an annoying little
 roommate named Draco."
	"Draco? That's the dragon constellation, isn't it?"
	"Uh-huh. And she can be an annoying little cat, too."


	Cassiopeia looked behind her. She was being followed by a 
small group of Constellation Senshi.
	_Great._
	"You know, I could've done this without you." She said. 
	The group behind her muttered something incomprehensible. It
 consisted of Gemini, Shelby, Orion, Leo, and Hercules. The others had 
agreed to stake out the situation from other locations and play backup.
	"If we run into any trouble, none of you are going to be of any
 help."  She muttered.
	Shelby muttered something and Cassiopeia found herself unable 
to move.
	"Hmm," said Hercules, "think you could just do that to her
 mouth?"
	Shelby smiled. "Gladly." Cassiopeia fell over but couldn't 
say a word. 
	As he walked away, he gave a smirk to Gemini and said, "To 
think I used to hate my job."
	
	Five minutes later...

	"It's too quiet." Shelby decided.
	"You people... you morons! I'm the only one who knows what's 
going on, and because you pulled that little stunt, I'm NOT telling 
you what's happening, so that you have no reason to do it again!"
	"She does have a point." Hercules said.


	The next day at the First School of Art, located in downtown 
Orpheus, Lola Risis was reading a book, Tori Krufenheiger was snapping
 photos, and a girl named Vegas Reynolds was patrolling the grounds 
with a yellow-and-white cat on her shoulder. Tori snapped a picture 
of them, accidentally. No incident occurred.